The Hershey Company and Their Plan of Helping The World

The Hershey Company has always stood for good. This company has worked tirelessly to build and uphold a reputation not only for the confections they make, but also for what they do. Its founder, Milton Hershey, donated most of his fortune to establish The Milton Hershey School, a private school created to provide a stable home life and top-notch education to children from families of low income, free of cost. In addition, the company has adopted a code of conduct that provides them with the resources and information needed to operate the business responsibly, make ethical decisions, and maintain trust with their consumers. As the company continues to expand their products globally, it is not surprising to see The Hershey Company continue to preserve their founders vision and spread goodwill throughout the communities involved in the business.

Hershey’s 2017 Social Corporate Responsibility Report laid out the company’s goals for the year into four segments in “Our Shared Goodness Promise:” shared futures, shared planet, shared business, and shared communities. Shared Futures include investing in children through schools and access to nutrition. Shared Planet focuses on addressing climate change in our cocoa communities and reductions in greenhouse gasses, total waste, packaging waste, and water usage. Shared Business focuses on sustainable sourcing, transparency of ingredients and nutrition in labeling, and driving out purpose throughout the brands. The final segment, Shared Communities aims to make a difference though investing in communities and employment engagement and volunteerism.

The main focus of Shared Futures is to help children reach their full potential through education and nutrition. Hershey’s believes that every child deserves an equal chance in life. They know that children are unable to focus on filling their minds with knowledge when their stomachs are empty. This is why they have partnered with multiple programs and have committed to nourishing one million minds. For example, Hershey is proud to provide ViVi, a vitamin fortified snack to 50,000 schoolchildren in Ghana every day, giving them the energy they need to make the most of their education. They are also helping small food companies in West Africa expand their distribution of nutritious foods by working with organizations that bring together experts in the global food industry, allowing local business owners to build relationships and get advice on growing their business. This can help change access to healthy nutrition across the continent.

Shared Planet focuses on a commitment to sustainable goals and practices. Hershey’s is working to end deforestation by planting trees, reduce their emissions, address future agricultural risks, eliminate waste, rethink their packaging, develop innovative solutions to the challenges of climate change, and use the data gathered to continually strive for improvement. Hershey has reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 2.7% out of a goal of 25% reduction by 2025 by changing their audit of emissions from annual to quarterly, which has allowed them to focus on their operations and make necessary changes rapidly. They have also minimized their packaging waste by 18.5 million pounds, with a goal of 25 million pounds reduction by 2025 by doing things as simple as eliminating their junk mail. In addition, they have converted to environmentally friendly cleaning products across the company and made the switch to electric cars. Between the two facilities in Monterrey, Mexico, Hershey was able to reduce 17.938 tons of CO2 through the conversion of natural gas into electricity alone! This company has achieved zero waste to landfill at 13 of their sites and their plants consistently exceed an 85% recycling rate. In an effort to reduce the usage of freshwater, Hershey will build a new wastewater treatment plant that will provide a blueprint for future wastewater treatment plants.

Shared Business focuses on the increasing consumer demands for healthier snacks, transparent labels, and more responsibly sourced ingredients. The Hershey’s philosophy is about using high-quality ingredients that have been ethically sourced and that consumers can feel good about. This is why they have committed to using only simple ingredients in their products as well as using SmartLabels on their packaging. This allows the consumer to easily find the information on nutrition, ingredients, allergens, and GMO status of all their favorite snacks. They have also committed to having at least 50% of their single serve products to contain 200 calories or less. In addition, Hershey does not do any business with companies that participate in the exploitation of children, physical punishment, forced or prison labor, or trafficking. The company believes that anyone employed by Hershey or its suppliers should be treated with dignity and respect, paid a fair wage (based on applicable law), and assured safe working conditions. They also support an independently operated Concern Line in which employees are encouraged to report any misconduct in operations without fear of retaliation. Hershey has also committed to procuring 100% of their sugar from responsible and sustainable sources by 2020. This means that they will begin incorporating third party evaluations into the supply chains of their Mexican sugar providers to ensure compliance with their Supplier Code of Conduct. In addition, 75% of their cocoa sourced in 2017 was certified as sustainable.

Shared Communities focuses on three areas: supporting basic needs, educating the workforce of tomorrow, and investing in community and economic development. Because cocoa is the most substantial ingredient used at The Hershey Company, therefore its continuous availability along with the welfare of the communities that nurture it is a top priority. Since Hershey imports cocoa from West Africa, it has focused on improving the lives of its cocoa farmers, their families, and their communities. In 2012, The Hershey Company began its Learn to Grow farmer training program with the goal of improving farmer livelihoods by helping improve cocoa productivity, family incomes, and labor practices as well as increasing cocoa quality. In order to increase the efficiency on cocoa farms, Hershey has set up a vigorous training infrastructure to spread good agricultural practices which include one Cocoa Center of Excellence, 55 demonstration plots, and 989 farmer field schools. Hershey has also developed CocoaLink, a low-cost mobile technology that delivers weekly tips on farm modernization and information on health, safety, and labor practices.

In addition, Hershey has established both a primary school and a health clinic in West Africa. The primary school consists of classrooms that are equipped with solar powered lighting fixtures, a water well, infirmary, and cafeteria at which sponsored meals are offered, as well as housing for its teachers and medical staff. The company has also partnered with cocoa suppliers to fund and build a community health center in Cote d’Ivoire that will provide basic health services such as maternity facilities, lab testing for AIDS and malaria, and vaccinations for polio, tetanus, and measles. Without this center, families in the this community would either have to endure without treatment or travel long distances to get the medical treatment they need.